It looks like I might have a problem. I might not be able to make my Great Aunty Joan’s 105th birthday party. She’s going to be devastated. You see, just as we can always rely on day turning to night, my sister turning up late, and England losing on penalties, we’ve also always known that the football World Cup takes place every four years, in June and July. My family unfailingly plan their birthday celebrations, weddings and funerals around it.

But now Great Aunty Joan’s party is under serious threat. It’s in the diary for November 2022. When not only her party, but also normal world order, looks set to be turned upside down. It will be World Cup time. Yup, Qatar 2022 World Cup time. Or it will be if certain members of the football community have their way.FULL POST

If Formula One’s tire manufacturer was a football manager surely they’d have been sacked by Christmas? It really is last chance saloon for Pirelli, having cashed in their chips before the mid-season break.

F1’s up-and-down relationship with its tire manufacturer is nothing new, but it reached a new low in the first half of this season.

You wondered whether Pirelli would have been better off sticking to calendars. FULL POST

About Amanda Davies

Amanda is a sport anchor and correspondent for CNN International who has covered live events from the English Premier League to the Champions League; Wimbledon to The Boat Race, and Formula 1 to the Olympics. As a specialist in football and Formula One Amanda has interviewed a host of international sporting faces on her travels, including Bernie Ecclestone, Michael Schumacher, Roy Hodgson, Sven Goran Eriksson, Boris Becker, Fernando Alonso, Jessica Ennis, Goran Ivanisevic, Matthew Pinsent, Bradley Wiggins, Mark Webber, Edwin Van Der Sar, Andrew Flintoff, Colin Montgomerie and Jimmy Anderson.